HICKORY — The story of the sinking of the Titanic will be told on Sept. 13 by Professor Melinda Ratchford at the monthly meeting of Newcomers of Catawba Valley.

Ratchford has studied the Titanic for more than 50 years. She has visited Belfast, where the ship was built, and Southampton, where it sailed 105 years ago, as well as Nova Scotia, where many bodies were buried and the North Atlantic site where the ship sank.

An associate professor at Belmont Abbey College, Ratchford has made her presentation on the Titanic more than 240 times. She will speak at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 13 at the Hickory Regional Airport, 3101 Ninth Ave. Drive NW, in the terminal building. The public is invited to attend the Newcomers meeting and the presentation.

This project is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.